The Winter Meetings open up one week from today. The Washington Nationals have not been named in one credible free agent rumor. But the rumor mill is swirling with multiple reports that the Nats are open to hearing trade proposals about their players. Most notably, MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams are getting the most buzz.
Those trade rumors were stoked by Washington Nationals President of Baseball Operations, Paul Toboni, who confirmed that the team is “open for business” and willing to listen to all offers for players, including Gore. And Toboni stated his goal is to “bring in as much value as we can” to the organization, but stressed that they are not obligated to trade any player. Toboni will be listening to all offers — but will be disciplined and hold out for the right, compelling package.
“Teams are gauging the cost to acquire Washington shortstop CJ Abrams. It’s not quite Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers in 2021, but a Gore/Abrams package would be tough to beat.”
— Jeff Passan wrote in an ESPN article
“Executives anticipate Gore will be dealt. This is where the specter of an extended lockout is muddying the market. Gore has two years until free agency. Teams will want to price the uncertainty into any potential deal, and that could force new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni to wait until the trade deadline.”
Speaking of the Scherzer/Turner trade back in 2021 that Passan referred to, that trade looks like a complete disaster. Teams have learned over the years that it is hard to win a trade against the Dodgers. The Nats received Gerardo Carrillo, Donovan Casey, Josiah Gray and Keibert Ruiz for potentially two future Hall-of-Famers. Carrillo and Casey never played a game in a Nats uniform while Gray and Ruiz have accumulated WAR totals of 0.8 and 0.2 respectively in Nats uniforms while Turner gave the Dodgers 9.1 WAR for his 1⅓ seasons and compensation as a QO player, and Scherzer put up 2.6 WAR for his one-third of a season with the Dodgers. The Dodgers drafted Eriq Swan as compensation for Turner. Guess what, Swan was traded this past season for Alex Call. The gift that keeps giving. So the Dodgers got 11.7 combined WAR and Swan — and the Nats got a combined 1.0 WAR, so far, and an expensive extension for Ruiz that still owes him $36.9 million through the 2030 season.
If you remove the Juan Soto trade, the Nats are still trying to find out what they got in the multiple trades they have made. DJ Herz, Riley Adams, and Drew Millas were other players received in trades since the 2021 season. But nobody other than from the Soto trade has produced much. There is still time to see how some of these trades pan out.
In fact if you look at the 2018 sell-off of traded players, none of those players did anything. RHP Ryan Madson was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for RHP Andrew Istler. LHP Gio Gonzalez was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for 3B Gilbert Lara and 1B KJ Harrison. 2B Daniel Murphy was traded to the Chicago Cubs for 2B Andruw Monasterio and immediately became a free agent. RHP Shawn Kelley was traded with cash for international bonus slot money. Brandon Kintzler was traded to the Chicago Cubs for RHP Jhon Romero.
The one shocker of a trade in 2021 was receiving Lane Thomas for LHP Jon Lester who seemed untradeable. Thomas was then flipped last year for Alex Clemmey, Rafael Ramirez Jr. and José Tena. Clemmey is an intriguing prospect and there is some future promise there. Kyle Schwarber was traded to the Boston Red Sox for RHP Aldo Ramirez. And C Yan Gomes, 2B Josh Harrison were traded with cash to Oakland Athletics for RHP Richard Guasch, RHP Seth Shuman and Millas. RHP Daniel Hudson was traded to the San Diego Padres for RHP Mason Thompson. Brad Hand was traded to the Blue Jays for Adams.
In 2022, the Nats did the Soto/Josh Bell trade, but also traded SS Ehire Adrianza to Atlanta Braves for 2B Trey Harris.
In 2023, the Nats traded 3B Jeimer Candelario and cash to the Chicago Cubs for Herz and SS Kevin Made.
In 2024, the Nats pulled off a Hunter Harvey trade that got the Nats a draft pick which they used to get C Caleb Lomavita, and the Nats received Cayden Wallace in that deal. They also traded Jesse Winker for RHP Tyler Stuart in a deal with the Mets. And the Nats traded RHP Dylan Floro to Arizona Diamondbacks for 3B Andrés Chaparro.
In 2025, the Nats RHP Kyle Finnegan to the Detroit Tigers for RHP R.J. Sales and RHP Josh Randall. The Nats traded RHP Michael Soroka to the Chicago Cubs for SS Ronny Cruz and LF Christian Franklin. As we mentioned, Call was traded to the Dodgers for Swan as well as RHP Sean Paul Liñan. The Nationals traded LHP Andrew Chafin and RHP Luis García to the Los Angeles Angels for LHP Jake Eder and 1B Sam Brown. And Amed Rosario was traded to the NY Yankees for Clayton Beeter.
The aforementioned trades still need time to be assessed from 2021 and forward. But the cautionary tale is that most trades don’t work-out when you receive lower level prospects. But sometimes even Top-100 prospects turn into busts. So those clamoring for trades should be nervous especially when you consider that Gray and Ruiz were both Top-100 prospects.
Sure, have faith in Toboni. But his predecessor, Mike Rizzo, was the wheeler-dealer of trades and how many times have people debated his Adam Eaton trade and his Sean Doolittle trade? Rizzo was known to give up a lot in trades. He once said you have to give up quality to get quality. Rizzo nailed it on the Soto trade. Could Toboni hit on a trade like that? Coincidentally, Gore and Abrams came to the Nats in that trade along with James Wood, Robert Hassell III and Jarlin Susana. That trade could be the gift that keeps on giving like we hope the Thomas trade could do.
We will see as time will tell. These trades are best to be assessed in hindsight.
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